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Red vs. Blue
|Genre = Comic science fiction, black comedy, drama-thriller (since season 6) |creator = Burnie Burns |writers = *Burnie Burns (seasons 1-10), Matt Hullum (seasons 1-10; 14) *Miles Luna (seasons 10-14) *Monty Oum (seasons 8-10) *Eddy Rivas (season 10) *Joe Nicolosi (season 15-17) *Jason Weight (season 16-present) |directors = *Burnie Burns (seasons 1–10) *Matt Hullum (seasons 1–10; 14) *Gavin Free (season 7) *Monty Oum (seasons 8-10) *Miles Luna (seasons 11–14) *Joe Nicolosi (season 15-16) *Josh Ornelas (seasons 14, 17) *Austin Clark (season 17) |Theme music composer = Trocadero |Opening theme = *"Blood Gulch Blues" (seasons 1–5) *"Big Prize" (season 6) *"Contact" (seasons 11-13) |Composer(s) = *Trocadero *Jeff Williams *David Levy |no.seasons = 17 |no.episodes = 340 + 22 from miniseries |Executive producer(s) = *Matt Hullum *Burnie Burns |Producer(s) = Koen Wooten (Season 13-present) Greg Slagel (season 16-present) |Running time = 6-7 minutes average per episode |company = Rooster Teeth Productions |run = April 1, 2003 - present|producer = *Matt Hullum *Burnie Burns *Koen Wooten (13-present) *Greg Slagel (16-present)|starring = *Burnie Burns *Joel Heyman *Jason Saldaña *Matt Hullum *Geoff Ramsey *Gustavo Sorola *Dan Godwin *Yomary Cruz *Shannon McCormick *Jen Brown *Kathleen Zuelch|country = USA|channel = Rooster Teeth}}Red vs. Blue, (often styled as redvsblue and often abbreviated as RvB), is an ongoing long running set of comedic American Rooster Teeth 3D rendered Machinima/CGI animated comic science fiction video TV Web series military Work Com set against the background of the Halo game series originally created by Burnie Burns of Rooster TeethRooster Teeth ProductionsProductions. The show is distributed through Rooster Teeth's website, as well as on DVD, Blu-ray, and more recently syndicated on the El Rey Network, Netflix and its own YouTube channel. The series story centers on two opposing teams of soldiers/simulation troopers fighting a civil war in the middle of a desolate box canyon (Blood Gulch), in a parody of first-person shooter (FPS) games, military life, and science fiction films. In the distant future, two groups of soldiers in the future pointlessly defend and battle for control of the least desirable piece of real estate in the known universe: a pointless box canyon in the middle of nowhere on a pointless planet. Its creators, Rooster Teeth Productions, helped spark the whole Machinima explosion and went on to establish themselves as Big Name Fans in the Halo community to the point of doing actual work for Bungie Studios, as well as making their videos available for purchase on Xbox Live. Having started in April 2003 and still being an ongoing work, this series is not only the longest-running episodic web series of all time, but the longest-running American sci-fi series of all time. Credit must also be given to its legacy: the series basically kickstarted the video game Machinima industry and was heavily influential in the development of both serialized internet fiction and internet comedy series as a whole. Initially intended to be a short series of six to eight episodes, the project quickly and unexpectedly achieved significant popularity following its Internet premiere on April 1, 2003. Rooster Teeth therefore decided to continue the story. The fifth and final season of the original Red vs. Blue: The Blood Gulch Chronicles series ended with episode 100, released on June 28, 2007. The Recollections Trilogy, consisting of three mini-series—Out of Mind, Recovery One, and Relocated—and the full-length Reconstruction, Recreation and Revelation series have extended the plot. Red vs. Blue: The Project Freelancer Saga, consisting of two full seasons and two mini-series, has revealed the story behind the mysterious Project Freelancer and its effect on the Reds and Blues, as well as following the Reds and Blues as they attempt to take down the Director of the Project. Afterwards, Miles Luna wrote and directed the Chorus Trilogy, three seasons that stranded the Reds and Blues in a planet amidst a civil war. Following an anthology season that indirectly served as an audition for next showrunner, Joe Nicolosi was chosen, and headed season 15, where a villainous team of similar troopers forces the Reds and Blues out of retirement, and The Shisno Paradox, the start of another multi-season story arc where the Reds and Blues travel through time and space confronting cosmic powers. The series consists of sixteenth seasons and five mini-series, with season 17, Red vs. Blue: Singularity, debuting in March 2019. Red vs. Blue is the longest running episodic web series and second longest running web series of all time. Red vs. Blue emerged from Burnie Burns' voice-over-enhanced gameplay videos of Bungie Studios' FPS video game Halo: Combat Evolved. The series is primarily produced using the machinima technique of synchronizing video footage from a game to pre-recorded dialogue and other audio. Footage is mostly from the multiplayer modes of Halo: Combat Evolved and its sequels, Halo 2 and Halo 3, on the Microsoft Xbox and Xbox 360 video game consoles. Minute sections of the series were also achieved using the Microsoft PC version of the same game. The series has been generally well-received. Praised for its originality, the series has won four awards at film festivals held by the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences. It has also won the award for "Best Animated Web Series" from the International Academy of Web Television (IAWTV). It also won a 2013 Webby Award for Animation, as well as nominated in 2014. It has been credited with bringing new popularity to machinima, helping it to gain more mainstream exposure, and attracting more people to the art form. Graham Leggat, former director of communications for Lincoln Center's film society, described Red vs. Blue as "truly as sophisticated as Samuel Beckett". Rooster Teeth has created episodes, some under commission from Microsoft, for special events. Red vs. Blue content was also included with the Legendary Edition of Halo 3. Both within the Machinima community and among film critics, Red vs. Blue has been generally well-received. Praised for its originality, the series has won four awards at film festivals held by the Academy of Machinima Arts & Sciences. It has been credited with bringing new popularity to machinima, helping it to gain more mainstream exposure, and attracting more people to the art form. Graham Leggat, former director of communications for Lincoln Center's film society, described Red vs. Blue as "truly as sophisticated as Samuel Beckett". While special videos continue to be released online, the completed series is also available on DVD and Blu-Ray, making the series one of the first commercially released and successful machinima products. Rooster Teeth has created videos, some under commission from Microsoft, for special events, and Red vs. Blue content is included with the Legendary Edition of Halo 3 ''where the main cast had also made cameo appearances in the personalities of their Red vs. Blue characters. Distribution Internet The Internet is Red vs. Blue's largest audience. It can be viewed on RoosterTeeth.com, YouTube and more recently, the first 13 seasons were added to Netflix. DVD Every season up to the 15th has DVD\Blu-Ray sets, available to buy at RTstore, Amazon, and certain physical stores. Physical copies can also be bought from conventions featuring Rooster Teeth. Synopsis Red vs. Blue centers on the Red and Blue Teams, two groups of soldiers engaged in a supposed civil war. Originally, each team occupies a small base in a box canyon known as Blood Gulch. According to Simmons, one of the Red Team soldiers, each team's base exists only in response to the other team's base. It is later revealed that there is no actual civil war; both the Red and Blue armies are under the same command, Project Freelancer, and only exist as training simulations for Freelancer Agents. Although both teams generally dislike each other and have standing orders to defeat their opponents and capture their flag, neither team is usually motivated to fight the other (except for Sarge, the head of Red Team). The Red vs. Blue storyline so far spans fifteen full-length seasons and five mini-series. Rooster Teeth periodically releases self-referential public service announcements and holiday-themed videos, which are generally unrelated to the main storyline and not considered canon. In these videos, the members of both teams are actors who claim to be from Red vs. Blue. Although the visual background of Red vs. Blue is primarily taken from the Halo series, Rooster Teeth consciously limits connections to the Halo fictional universe. A special video made for E3 2003 portrays Master Chief, Halo's protagonist, as a larger-than-life member of the army, and the Red vs. Blue trailer and first episode establish that the series is set between the events of the first two games. Beyond these references, the storyline is independent, a decision that, according to Burns, is intended to increase accessibility to those unfamiliar with the games. For example, even though the cast of the fourth and fifth seasons include characters from the Covenant Elite alien race, Rooster Teeth never portrays those characters in their original Halo context.4 Beginning with the sixth season, titled Reconstruction, the series begins to follow Halo more closely. It is established that Reconstruction onwards takes place one year after Halo 3 and several characters indirectly reference Smart AI, the Human-Covenant War, and Forerunners. Also at several points it is noted that Project Freelancer is under the jurisdiction of the United Nations Space Command. Beginning as a simple comedy series, Red vs. Blue follows two opposing military installations locked in eternal war in a box canyon - the Reds and the Blues. When the Blue team hire a freelance agent to give them an advantage, things get a bit more complicated. As the running jokes and many characters begin to pile up, so starts a story that quickly develops a surprising amount of emotional depth, while never forgetting its comedic roots. The first story arc, The Blood Gulch Chronicles, ran for five seasons with a total of 100 episodes (plus a 5 episode short miniseries named "Out of Mind"). It consisted of Seasons 1-5, from April 1, 2003 - June 28, 2007. The first two seasons, and half of the third, are filmed in Halo, while the remaining seasons are filmed in Halo 2. After the Halo event of 2552, there is a brief but violent period of civil war among the humans. Two armies on opposite sides of a canyon, the Reds and Blues, fight in the most worthless piece of real estate in the galaxy. The first five seasons of Red vs. Blue, with the official collection's name coming from the fact that they take place in the Blood Gulch level of the Halo series. The collection contains 100 episodes, as well as one Mini Series, "Out of Mind". The second story arc, The Recollection Trilogy, a trilogy spanning Seasons 6 to 8 (each given a unique title beginning with "Re": "Reconstruction" (Season 6), "Recreation" (Season 7) and "Revelation" (Season 8) and two miniseries ("Recovery One" and "Relocated"). Season 8 marks the introduction of high-budget CGI-rendered scenes in addition to the traditional Machinima-styled Halo 3 scenes. In Red vs. Blue: Recollection Trilogy (2008-2010), Agent Washington is tasked with trying to discover who or what is hunting the Freelancers. He has reassembled the infamous Blood Gulch teams for information on the A.I.s, and he learns that one of them is the key. The collection of Seasons 6 to 8 of Red vs. Blue, in which the series takes a more serious tone, focusing on Project Freelancer and The Director, while still being as hilarious as ever. The collection contains 58 episodes in total, as well as two miniseries, "Recovery One" and "Relocated". The third story arc, The Project Freelancer Saga, comprises Seasons 9 and 10, is equally divided between a prequel storyline fully animated in CGI, and the continuation of the present-day storyline. Season 9 is filmed in Halo: Reach and Season 10 is filmed in Halo 3. The collection of seasons 9 and 10 of Red vs. Blue. This series cuts between two concurrent storylines - a Prequel to the whole series based around Project Freelancer created entirely in CGI, and the continuing adventures of the Blood Gulch crew and Agent Washington, as well as Church's experiences inside the Epsilon Unit. In Red vs. Blue: Season 9 (2011), The beginning of the end of Project Freelancer is revealed, while Epsilon relives his Blood Gulch memories in search of Tex. In Red vs. Blue: Season 10 (2012), The Fall of Project Freelancer is unveiled, while Agent Carolina assembles The Reds and Blues on her mission to assassinate The Director and end Project Freelancer once and for all. The fourth story arc, The Chorus Trilogy, spans Seasons 11-13, and starts out as a Breather Episode, intended to bring the series back to its more comedic roots... for a while. It uses Halo 4 assets. The collection of seasons 11, 12, and 13 of Red vs. Blue, in which the series takes the Blood Gulch crew to a seemingly deserted planet. However, there might be more going on on this planet than they think. The fourteenth season (Red vs. Blue: Season 14) consists mostly of vignettes, rather than directly continuing Season 13's story. As this season is an Anthology, it uses multiple games and animation styles depending on the story. The 14th season of Red vs. Blue. Unlike others, this is not part of a story arc, but rather is an Anthology consisting of single or multi-episode stories. A 15th season picks up 10 months after Season 13 left off. The Reds and Blues have become notorious criminals, and one reporter, Dylan Andrews, is dead-set on finding out what caused this change in their behavior. It's filmed using Halo 5: Guardians, with CGI and footage from other games mixed in. Notably, it's the first Red vs Blue season (not counting Season 14's Anthology) to be completely stand-alone, and not have a multi-season story arc/"saga" coming off of it. Still, the sixteenth season (''The Shisno Paradox) builds up on plot elements from its predecessor and serves as a direct follow-up: with the world saved, the Reds and Blues leave for lunch. Along the way, they are roped into a time-travelling adventure that puts them in the attention of Cosmic Powers. Seasons 1-13 are also available on Netflix and DVD (Netflix UK does not have Seasons 1-5), and Seasons 1, 2, 9 and 10 on Amazon Prime. The series made a televised debut on the El Rey Network late 2015. As of Season 15, episodes will be released to Rooster Teeth FIRST members one week before the public. Cast and characters :Click here for a list of all the characters and people who worked on the series. Red vs. Blue features characters whose personalities are skewed in different ways and to varying degrees. Character interaction and dialogue, rather than action, drive the story. The series has centered on eleven main characters. Other characters, both team-affiliated and unaffiliated, human and non-human, have played significant roles throughout the story. Notable new characters include The Director and The Chairman, as well as the Freelancers, which are named after U.S. states. AIs are also important characters, and are named after Greek letters. Initially, the Red Team consists of Grif (Geoff Ramsey), Simmons (Gustavo Sorola), Donut (Dan Godwin), their leader, Sarge (Matt Hullum); and a robot engineer, Lopez (Burnie Burns). The Blue Team consists of Tucker (Jason Saldaña), Caboose (Joel Heyman), de facto leader Church (Burns), an artificial intelligence tank named Sheila (Yomary Cruz), and Agent Texas (Kathleen Zuelch) and later on Agents Carolina (Jen Brown) and Washington (Shannon McCormick); prior to the events of the series, the Blues were led by the late Captain Butch Flowers (Ed Robertson) who's later replaced by Grif's sister Kaikaina, who's simply referred to as Sister (Rebecca Frasier). Over the years, Red vs. Blue has attracted numerous notable guest stars, namely Elijah Wood, Christopher Sabat, Amber Benson, Dan Avidan, Arin Hanson, and Smosh. : M''' = Main cast (credited, or appears in most episodes for the season) : '''R = Recurring cast (5+ appearances in season) : G''' = Guest cast (1-4 appearances in season) : '''* = Appears mostly in alternate versions (the Epsilon recreation of Season 9, or the memories from Season 17) : * denotes that while the original character didn't appear, they showed up as either the Epsilon-unit counterpart in Season 9, or the past version featured through time travel in Season 17. In Season 9, the real Sarge, Grif and Caboose briefly appear at the end of the final episode, while Season 14 features both original and Epsilon versions of the Reds and Blues. : **Burnie Burns provides the voice of Tex while using her voice modulator in Season 1 and Season 15. He is also the primary voice of Omega, while Matt Hullum provides the voice of Omega while possessing Doc. Both Burns and Hullum provide the voice of The Meta. Episodes The Blood Gulch Chronicles The Blood Gulch Chronicles are referring the first 5 seasons and the first mini-series of Red vs. Blue, from April 1, 2003 till June 28, 2007. The first five seasons of Red vs. Blue, with the official collection's name coming from the fact that they take place in the Blood Gulch level of the Halo series. The collection contains 100 episodes, as well as one Mini Series, "Out of Mind". In near future, ten soldiers battle for control of the most worthless spot in the galaxy - a box canyon in the middle of nowhere. Red vs. Blue documents the story of these two armies as they wage a war they really don't understand - or want to fight in the first place. The first saga of RvB, this saga shows the "war" between Reds and Blues, the arrival of the first Freelancers, and the rise and fall of a rogue A.I. After the Halo event of 2552, there is a brief but violent period of civil war among the humans. Two armies on opposite sides of a canyon, the Reds and Blues, fight in the most worthless piece of real estate in the galaxy. Season 1 Season 2 Season 2: When a mild-mannered medical officer finds himself deployed to the most worthless stretch of land in the entire galaxy, the last things he expects to find are his first patients dead, a poltergeist haunting a robot, a 200-ton tank in the center of a love triangle, and an evil strain of artificial intelligence attempting to enslave all of humanity. Welcome to Blood Gulch. Season 3 Season 3: At the end of season 2, Doc is possessed by the AI known as O' Malley, which formally resided in both Tex (season 1) and Caboose (season 2). Realizing that O' Malley could destroy them, the Reds and the Blues decide to team up in an attempt to destroy him. However, when they tamper with the teleporters, they end up in different places, leaving people alone with their once sworn enemies. Red vs. Blue Season 3 is even funnier than ever as new maps are introduced to the story line, and don't forget about the twist ending. Season 4 Season 4. The Great Destroyer has arrived. The Blues confront the Great Destroyer who informs them that Tucker must go on a quest. Meanwhile, the Reds return to Blood Gulch where Sarge questions Simmons' sanity after Simmons sees a familiar tank. Miniseries: Out of Mind Tex recruits a fellow freelancer, York, to seek the evil Wyoming. Season 5 Three new arrivals—a mysterious stranger, a half-alien child, and a crashed ship—keep the Red and Blue armies on their toes as they fight, bicker and argue for control of the universe's most worthless piece of real estate: a box canyon in the middle of nowhere. Together they discover a hidden world that could finally answer the question, "Why are we here?" The Recollections Trilogy Red vs. Blue: The Recollections Trilogy is the second saga in the main series that includes three seasons and two mini-series. Picking up where the Blood Gulch Chronicles ended, this trilogy tells the tale of another new Freelancer, the Reds, and the Blues teaming up to face a dangerous new enemy. Mini-Series: Recovery One Agent Washington is sent after deceased Freelancers. Reconstruction Agent Washington investigates an attack on an outpost by a mysterious entity known only as the "Meta", which has also been killing members of Project Freelancer and stealing their partner AIs and their armor upgrades. While pursuing the Meta and soon joined by the Reds and Blues, Washington will uncover a conspiracy and dark secrets about the true purpose of Project Freelancer. Mini-Series: Relocated Following the events of the previous season, the Reds and Caboose are given new bases in Valhalla. Recreation Buried beneath the sand is the answer to a mystery more dangerous than anyone could possibly understand. It's the perfect mission for a bunch of ragtag soldiers who don't know what they're doing anyway. Revelation As former alliances are betrayed and friends become enemies, the Reds and Blues find themselves in an impossible predicament; in order to save the universe this time, they can't be totally incompetent. While on the run, the two teams must find a way to put aside their past differences and figure out the mystery behind Project Freelancer once and for all. The Project Freelancer Saga This saga reveals what Project Freelancer is and what became of it, and the final destruction of the program. This saga focuses on two separate story lines. During Season 9, the story follows the origins of Project Freelancer, as well as the events taking place inside the Epsilon Unit. In Season 10, the story follows the Reds and Blues after they rescue Epsilon from the storage unit, as they team up with Agent Carolina to take down the Director of Project Freelancer. Season Ten also wraps up the events of the Project Freelancer backstory, chronicling the Freelancer Break-In as well as the beginning of Agent Maine's rampage. As well as the two main seasons, there are also two mini-series that take place within the Epsilon Unit; MIA ''and ''When There's a Will, There's a Wall. '' Season 9 The present storyline follows Epsilon Church as he relives memories from Blood Gulch in the AI Capture Unit from Season 8, but tries to fix them when the Reds and Blues aren't acting like themselves. The past storyline is set before the start of The Blood Gulch Chronicles, following the agents of Project Freelancer in their peak against a rogue UNSC faction. MIA Epsilon-Grif disappears, leading the Reds to start a search for him. When There's a Will, There's a Wall While the -Blues receive a Pelican, Epsilon-Sarge decides to destroy the wall behind the Red base. Season 10 The past storyline will show the conclusion of Project Freelancers' quest to defeat a rogue Insurrection group and the lost of complete trust between the Freelancer agents and AIs. The present storyline picks up right where Season 9 left off, as Epsilon Church joins the Reds and Blues on Agent Carolina's quest for vengeance against the Director of Project Freelancer. Chorus Trilogy With the show taken over by Miles Luna, the Chorus Trilogy are three seasons where the Blood Gulch Crew's ship crashes on the remote planet Chorus, and are caught in the local affairs which turn out to have a shared connection to the simulation troopers. Season 11 Season 11 of Red vs. Blue marks the beginning of a new saga. We follow the Red and Blue teams as they struggle to find their way after crash-landing on the planet Chorus, caught in the midst of a civil war. Season 12 Season 12 furthers the plot of Season 11, following the story of Tucker, Caboose, Grif, and Simmons as they work to free their teammates from the Federal Army of Chorus. However, they find things are not as they seem. Season 13 The Reds and Blues must convince both of the Chorus armies to join forces or suffer complete annihilation at the hands of a bloodthirsty war lord. Season 14 An anthology with events all across the Red vs Blue timeline and canonicity, in various formats - 2D animation, cel-shaded 3D animation, stop-motion, live-action, and of course, machinima. ''The Shisno Paradox The first season written and directed by Joe Nicolosi was a standalone story, but given it set up the follow-ups which are explicitly a two-season arc, all are grouped together. In this arc, the Reds and Blues getting themselves involved in an intergalactic conflict being brought out of retirement by a reporter. Season 15 A series of violent attacks across human space has people demanding answers. Who are these Reds and Blues? And why are they so bloody ruthless? One reporter sets out to uncover the truth, determined to find out why the once beloved Reds and Blues have turned so malicious, taking her on a galaxy-spanning adventure filled with many twists and turns. Season 16 Picking up in the moments after the conclusion of season 15, Red vs. Blue returns with a new saga, pitting the characters against powerful new foes and launching them back into an epic adventure unlike any other in the show's history. A simple trip to lunch triggers an epic quest full of new enemies, allies, betrayals, and stuffed crust in... ‘The Shisno Paradox’! Season 17 The only one not written and directed by Nicolosi, though he helped create the outline with Miles Luna and eventual lead writer Jason Weight. It took two seasons for the Reds and Blues to break the universe, but they're about to discover that things can always get worse. References Category:Rooster Teeth Productions Category:Rooster Teeth Shows Category:Red vs. Blue Category:Series Category:Machinima Series